Granulators, such as those used in chopping wire and cable, typically have a blade supporting rotor whose shaft is journaled through bearings mounted to each side of the rotor blades. With one or more bed blades fixedly mounted in cutting relation with the orbit of the rotor blades rotation of the rotor may cause materials introduced into the granulator to be cut. To inhibit the cut materials from fouling these bearings the granulators have been provided with seals located adjacent the entry points of the rotor into the bearing housings. These seals have typically been of a labyrinth configuration which define a tortuous path between confronting surfaces of moving and stationary members or sections of the seals.
Although the just described granulators have performed satisfactorily it has been necessary to replace members of their labyrinth seals frequently due to the wear occasioned by the ground materials that enter into the narrow spacings between the moving sections of the seals and the bore of the housing in which the bearings are mounted. For example, typically it is necessary to change such seal members approximately twice a month for granulators operating some sixteen hours a day or so. To make such seal replacements has proven to be a arduous and time-consuming task. In order to gain access to the seal it has been necessary to remove a number of granulator components such as various sheaves, fly-wheels, bearings, bearing housing parts, and the fixed seal members that face the rotating seal members. Furthermore, this has had to be done to both ends of the shaft that straddle the blade supporting rotor section. Frequent dismounting of the bearings has also lead to bearing misalignments and failures. It would therefore be desirable to provide a labyrinth seal whose components that wear with normal granulator useage could be readily replaced and done so without dismounting of the rotor bearings. It is to this task to which the present invention is primarily directed.